DESCRIPTION:(from Hallmark's press release, October 2012) "The Christmas Heart" really is quite the family affair, in every way. The Hallmark Channel Original Movie premieres on Sunday, December 2 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C). But before we get into what it's about and who stars in it, consider that the film is executive produced by Emmy(R) winner Patricia Heaton and is written by her brother, Michael Heaton, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. "The Christmas Heart" stars Teri Polo ("Meet the Parents"), Paul Essiembre ("Rescue Heroes") and Tess Harper ("No Country for Old Men") in the heart-tugging tale of a neighborhood that bands together to save the life of a special teenage boy in dire need of a heart transplant. A tight-knit group of neighbors have had a 40-year tradition on their street of lighting luminaries at Christmastime. They decide to cancel it for the first time in honor of Matt Norman (Ty Wood, "The Haunting in Connecticut"), the teen whose heart is failing. When he's hospitalized, his parents Ann (Polo) and Mike (Essiembre) are left only to pray for a miracle. The first step in that Christmas wonder happens when a donor heart is found. It's on Christmas Eve that a Life Flight packs the heart in ice and begins the journey to Matt's beside. But a winter storm moves in, making a frantic life-and-death mission that much more perilous. So what happens? The neighborhood decides to light the luminaries after all, providing a miraculous beacon in honor of Matt that helps guide the plane through the nasty weather. Thus, in "The Christmas Heart" we have a film that represents the best of what makes holiday films so special, supplying the kind of joyous ending that makes us all want to stand up and cheer.